Fourteen years ago today, I married my cheater. It feels like a lifetime ago.

We were young and naive. At least, I was naive. The experience of marrying a cheater took away a lot of my innocence and naivete. Honestly, it equipped me for my work today–i.e. working in a prison with manipulative individuals.

God does not waste our suffering. He redeems it, if we embrace and let Him.

This morning was a new one in the course of my grief journey regarding the end of my first marriage:

Anger

I recalled how beautiful the day was for the wedding. That morning I worked out at the hotel gym. Then we took pictures in the park with the sun shining.

Then we had our ceremony. We had dear friends and family surrounding us that day. People literally came from around the globe to support us.

My anger was about how the memory of that day is forever tainted with how my cheater pissed our marriage away with her sins!

It did not have to end. Choices were made; they were sinful choices. These sinful choices of her ended the marriage.

That said, I hold that in tension with the wonderful life I have now.

If my first marriage had never ended, I never would have met and married Mrs. DM. Plus, I never would have become Munchkin’s dad. They restored the laughter to the halls of my soul.

Today is a poignant day for me. The grief fades but remains. Something precious was lost, AND something precious was gained in the losing.

Echoing Job:

“…the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

-Job 1:21b, NIV